Auto vignettes - acquire in advance or as we approach each border?
Apr 30th, 2015, 12:12 PM
#1
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Auto vignettes - acquire in advance or as we approach each border?
My husband and I are doing a three week road trip from Munich to the Dolomites, then on to Bled and Ljubljana. From there we're stopping in Graz on our way to Budapest. From there, Vienna and then to Telc, Prague and Ceske Krumlov before heading to Passau and back to Munich. Do we get the vignettes as we approach e a chance border or do we purchase in advance? A few years ago we drove from Munich to Salzburg and stopped right before entering Austria but I don't want to assume anything and be stuck or paying some huge fine. As my help would be greatly appreciated.
Apr 30th, 2015, 12:28 PM
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I cannot tell you what's legal, only what we did several years ago, based on what we were told at the car rental desk and the online research we did.
We began in Prague; the car already had the vignette for the Czech Republic. When we crossed into Slovakia, we were on a highway in a rural part of the country. No crossing gates or anything, of course. Several kms into Slovakia, we saw a small money exchange that had a sign (in Slovakian and German) and a picture indicating they sold the highway coupon, so we stopped and bought it. The same when we entered Hungary from Slovakia. We pulled off the road into the first gas station that we saw with a sign and picture of the vignette.
It was easier than I thought it would be. According to the gas station people, in Hungary you don't have to post the vignette, just pay your fee and keep the receipt, in case you're stopped. I assume we did it correctly, as we never were stopped in the several days we had the rental car in Hungary.
One thing I did, partly to ease my anxiety, was to print out pictures of what each vignette was supposed to look like.
We began in Prague; the car already had the vignette for the Czech Republic. When we crossed into Slovakia, we were on a highway in a rural part of the country. No crossing gates or anything, of course. Several kms into Slovakia, we saw a small money exchange that had a sign (in Slovakian and German) and a picture indicating they sold the highway coupon, so we stopped and bought it. The same when we entered Hungary from Slovakia. We pulled off the road into the first gas station that we saw with a sign and picture of the vignette.
It was easier than I thought it would be. According to the gas station people, in Hungary you don't have to post the vignette, just pay your fee and keep the receipt, in case you're stopped. I assume we did it correctly, as we never were stopped in the several days we had the rental car in Hungary.
One thing I did, partly to ease my anxiety, was to print out pictures of what each vignette was supposed to look like.
Apr 30th, 2015, 01:02 PM
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Usually as you get near to the Austrian border, petrol stations sell the Austrian vignette. If you can't find the vignette before entering Austria, stop at border and buy the vignette there.
Technically, if you pass the border and you don't have the vignette, you are at fault; there are frequent checks, often just a short distance from the border, fines are stinging and are to be paid on the spot.
Vignettes can be sometimes bought in advance at automobile clubs; but this option usually is more convenient to residents than to tourists.
Technically, if you pass the border and you don't have the vignette, you are at fault; there are frequent checks, often just a short distance from the border, fines are stinging and are to be paid on the spot.
Vignettes can be sometimes bought in advance at automobile clubs; but this option usually is more convenient to residents than to tourists.
Apr 30th, 2015, 01:54 PM
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We inquired at the Austrian border and were waved over to the side to a parking space. A border patrol attendant brought it to us. We handed him the cash and drove away. All very boring IMO! Another time it was already in our Austrian rental car.
Apr 30th, 2015, 01:54 PM
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If you take the motorway from Munich to the Dolomites via Salzburg and Tauern tunnel you have every gas station on the A8 motorway in Bavaria selling the Austrian vignette.
You MUST have it before you enter Austria.
But as the motorway route through the Tauern tunnel (which, by the way, you pay extra in addition to the vignette) is often struck by traffic jams, I like the route via Kufstein and Felbertauern tunnel better.
You only pay the tunnel toll but no vignette if you leave A93 at last exit in Germany and take the federal highway from there to Kufstein. And further on via 2-lane highways through the Felbertauern tunnel, Lienz, Silliach towards Cortina.
You MUST have it before you enter Austria.
But as the motorway route through the Tauern tunnel (which, by the way, you pay extra in addition to the vignette) is often struck by traffic jams, I like the route via Kufstein and Felbertauern tunnel better.
You only pay the tunnel toll but no vignette if you leave A93 at last exit in Germany and take the federal highway from there to Kufstein. And further on via 2-lane highways through the Felbertauern tunnel, Lienz, Silliach towards Cortina.
Apr 30th, 2015, 08:18 PM
#8
Be sure to ask where the vignettes need to be placed on the windscreen. I know that the Austrian vignette only needs to be readable from the overhead monitors and the Hungarian vignette is paper rather than a sticker and just needs to remain in the vehicle. Before our vehicle arrived we had a rental and purchased a 10-day Czech vignette but did not place it in the proper spot. We happened to get stopped and were (gently) reprimanded, so it all worked out...
